Of Collecting, The End of the World, and Dixieland Jazz...

Because of our side business, I do a bit of buying and selling. However,  sometimes items fall into the "buy" but not "sell" category.  For example, a couple of weeks ago I found this (along with other cool space related items) at a garage sale...

New, in shrink wrap...Score!

Of course I snapped it up! You see, I had to because it went so well with one of my other finds (that I already had)...

From the George Pal estate....

Yep, my Firehouse Five Plus Two album autographed by Ward Kimball to George Pal...

For those of you who might not have followed the jump in logic; George Pal directed "When Worlds Collide." Ward Kimball was a Disney artist who also lead a Dixieland band. He and Pal became friends when Kimball was put in charge of directing the Tomorrowland episodes of Walt Disney's "Disneyland" tv show. When worlds collide, indeed!

So there you have it; collecting for science nerds! And I didn't even bring up the other space stuff I got at that sale...Maybe next time!

Until then, fly 'em fast and high!

Books of Future, Past....

Well, school is starting back once again, and as I get ready to greet students old and new, my mind turns to.....books! Books are actually taking a slightly lessor role in schools now (what with all them fancy-smancy electronic tablets and such) but in my day if you wanted to know something, you grabbed a book, dadgumit! Now excuse me, I gotta take a nap....

Ok, I feel better now. So, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, books! For this week's post, I walked all the way over to my small bookcase behind my chair and grabbed the following:

Some of the most interesting books from the space race were actually aimed at kids. (Not literally, throwing books at children is wrong.) These books give us a pretty good feel as to how the typical American was viewing space travel at the time.

The first book, "Rockets, Jets, Guided Missiles and Space Ships" was written in 1951 by Jack Coggins and Fletcher Pratt. The forward was written by none other than Willy Ley, who went on to become a consultant for Walt Disney's Tomorrowland series (see what I did there). The science is pretty sound 1950's stuff, but the illustrations are wonderful. If only things had turned out this sleek and shiny. Sigh... In the illustration for the trip to the moon, the TWA Moonliner's father sits proudly on the lunar surface.

We flash forward almost 20 years with the next book. Published in 1969, "Man in Space" was part of a subscription series put out by Doubleday and the National Science Service. These books came with stickers to place in the appropriate places on the pages because what with all the money they were spending putting man on the moon, they couldn't afford to do it at the factory. Just kidding!  Everything is better with stickers, even science!

You can see by the illustrations that pretty much everything had been worked out for the moon shot at this point, and, in fact, they actually had to include a typed "Science Bulletin" to update the info when we actually made it! Pretty cool stuff, but I still prefer the 1950's vision.

So there you have it. You know, I can't help but think that although new technology has us viewing science and news in pretty much real time, what will future generations pull off of their bookcases to explore our take on the world? Could our technological enlightenment bring about a future "dark ages" situation with our way of life? (cue ominous music)

Probably not.

Until next time fly 'em fast and high!

A Tale of Two Novas

For this post, I give you the following photo:

The Nova...and the Nova...

What we have here are clearly two Flight Systems "Nova" kits. The one on the left was packaged sometime in the 70's and was obtained from my long time rocket friend Bob Turner (who happened to have a birthday last week..Happy birthday, Bob!).
The one on the right is clearly the same kit, but packaged in the late 80's or early 90's, just before FSI ceased production, right?

WRONG!

The one on the right is actually much more interesting than that! You see, it was actually packaged a few weeks ago and then purchased at NARAM by John Dyer!  FSI is coming back, folks; and one of the ways the new owners celebrated that fact was to package "NOS" kits (New Old Stock) out of parts and packaging left over from the original company and sell them at NARAM! And what's even more exciting is that in addition to the cool FSI kits, they intend to release new versions of those ultimately cool FSI black powder motors!!!

So, we here at STB are wishing them the very best and are eagerly standing by with credit card in hand!

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high! (with FSI!)

Of NARAM Classics and Honking Big Medals

Well, NARAM has once again come and gone. Now it's time to take down the decorations, pack away the Rocket Carols, and start planning for a new contest year!!! But rest ye merry, rocketeers, your contest committee is on the job! (Details to be announced soon. Actual results may vary. Void where prohibited by law.)

Speaking of the contest committee, one of us actually went to NARAM this year and did pretty stinkin' well for himself! Check out this picture!

Yep, our very own John Dyer went to Colorado with his Taurus and kicked booty in the Classic Competition! He scored a solid third, which netted him that cool medal that he hasn't taken off since that day! (Ok, he actually has taken it off, but it reads better the other way). Anyway, it couldn't have happened to a better guy! Congratulations, John!

Anyway, the DARS contest year info is coming soon, so until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

My Nerd Runs Deep

Yes, it's true. I have always been rather addicted to science fiction, space, rockets and such things (an attribute I'm sure I share with a large number of people who read this blog) My mom told me once that after my first day of kindergarten she asked me how I liked it. I replied that it was ok, but that I had wanted to learn about space and planets and all we did was color....Oh well.

It was natural that I would fall in love with the space race and sci-fi on tv. The coolest of these shows was, of course, Star Trek, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for all things Original Trek. I like the other Trek series too, but for me nothing touches the original.

In 1976 an amazing event happened in Dallas, Texas. No, I'm not talking about the Bicentennial, stay focused, people! In October of that year, The American Star Trek Convention was held! I remember watching the infamous Star Trek blooper reels, listening to James Doohan (Scotty) speak, being charmed by Grace Lee Whitney (Yoeman Rand), and picking up a couple of souvenirs.

The first item was a UFP (United Federation of Planets) trivia book. I would show you a picture, but dadgummit, although I still have it, I can't find it right now. No matter, as that it isn't that impressive. It's a small blue paperback with a stapled binding and hand typed pages. Still, it was pretty cool at the time.

The other item I picked up was this:

That's right, I own an official silver-toned metal Starship Enterprise necklace! Or, I guess it could be the Constellation or the Intrepid, or really any other starship, the detailing isn't great, after all. The point is that I have had this silly thing for almost 40 years! I've lost a kazillion pens and such but the necklace has stuck with me. I even sometimes still wear it to meetings (see, my nerd really does run deep!)

So, if you see me at a meeting wearing a Federation deep space vehicle around my neck, you'll know why. It's because I'm a nostalgic nerd. And you know what? I'm ok with that!

Until next time fly 'em fast and high!